this is much better than school lunch ; matt

[wendy]

Addison Delaney Rowe was ditching school.

Addison was ditching school.

And it wasn’t just Math on a review day.
Or History which she wasn’t paying attention to anyway.

It was the entire school day.

The worst part? She hadn’t even intended to do so! It had been a joke! A sarcastic little comment! Something she hadn’t meant! Yet, here she was. At Walt’s Ice Cream Parlor. (And really? Who named their ice cream parlors after themselves anymore? That wasn’t creative. At all.) She’d met Matthew a block away from school at 8:15am (after waiting five minutes as she’d gotten there a bit early). Addison had no ideas as to what they could do all morning. The original plan had been ice cream during History. As History wasn’t until after noon, that left the whole morning open to whatever they had in mind. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind. It seemed her mind was still set on school, thinking about what she was missing in Science. Eventually, she started to ignore that part. What was the point of ditching if you were still going to think about school?

They’d gone to the park first. That’s where they always went so she wasn’t surprised when they ended up there. They climbed a few trees, of course, and raced down a few pathways (she lost each time). At some point, they came across a pond and Matthew spent fifteen minutes trying to convince her to go swimming. Her “no’s!” got louder and more complex each time until she finally said: “Absolutely not, Matthew Peterson, and that is final!” and stormed away. Ten minutes later, he still hadn’t come after her and she’d had to search the entire park until she found him at a park vendor, demanding to know why he had to pay for a balloon. Though she was frustrated with him, she bought him one and then tugged him along with her until they made it to the Ice Cream Parlor.

They’d had to wait in line, surprisingly enough. Evidently, it was a popular place. This surprised her as she hadn’t been in a long while and the last time she’d gone, it hadn’t been busy. “You know, I wasn’t expecting this place to be so crowded.” She told Matthew, looking around. “I suppose it’s proof, though, right? The ice cream must be good.” They finally reached the front of the line and she let Matthew go first, since she was quite sure he already knew what he wanted. (What had it been yesterday? Bubble gum cookie dough with mint sprinkles?) Addison wouldn’t have been surprised, though, if he changed his mind. Addison looked over the ice cream flavors, trying to decide on what she wanted.

[MATTHEW PETERSON]

Addison was having fun.

Matt couldn't believe it. Actually, that was a complete and utter lie. He could very much believe in Addison's ability to have fun, perhaps more than most people's, but things sounded much more interesting when he was shocked. After all, Matt liked surprises. And Addison agreeing to ditch school with him was certainly nothing if not surprising.

Unfortunately, her scolding was hardly unexpected. He'd made a new record though, not getting a single stern look or harsh word for most of the morning, even when accusing her of being something along the lines of a three-legged snail after he'd won their fifth race. In fact, she's even seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit until Matt had suggested they go for a quick swim in the pond.

Really, he didn't understand what the big deal was. It was sort of hot outside, the water was cool, hardly anybody was around, and they were already breaking tons of rules by not showing up to school. What was one more to the list, really? He'd tried telling her this, of course, but to no avail. Not even the puppy eyes had worked. It was only then, after a good three minutes straight of that look, that Matt was beginning to feel the slightest inkling of defeat in his stomach. An unfamiliar sensation, to be sure. And then she'd gone and yelled at him, and as he certainly wasn't about to go running after her because of it, Matt had wandered off rather moodily in the other direction, kicking various pebbles along the way until he came across a man holding a rather large bunch of balloons. Multi-colored balloons. Then, in that instant, there was nothing Matt wanted more in the world than one of those balloons.

And, apparently, the three dollars it cost to buy one. He couldn't believe it. Three dollars for a balloon? Three dollars for happiness?! It was easily the most evil, dirty, rotten, sneaky, conniving thing he'd ever seen an adult try to do, charging people for their right to a smile and a good daydream. He told the man just that, of course, and was so into his completely relevant argument that he hardly even noticed when Addison wandered up and offered to buy him one of brightly colored things. Instantly, all misgivings about the thing were forgotten.

The balloon, now named Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla, was still held tight in Matt's hand as they entered the Ice Cream Parlor, despite the fact that the top of it quite nearly brushed the ceiling. "It's ice cream," Matt responded easily to Addison's statement about the number of people in the place. "Of course it's crowded. Who wouldn't want ice cream?" he wasn't intending to be snotty, of course, it was a legitimate question. Once they reached the front of the line, Matt made sure to step in front of Addison in line; knowing her, she would try to steal his flavor. Matt couldn't stand it when people stole his ice cream flavor. Especially not when he'd been dead set on one for the past ten minutes they'd waited in line.

"Cotton candy and caramel swirl with peach syrup," he demanded of the kid behind the counter with a small grin. It was a good thing he'd gotten someone about his age to make the order; the older people always seemed to mess it up. Turning back towards Addison, Matt smiled widely as he was handed his monstrosity of a cone, hardly caring that some of the syrup was dripping off the sides. "Wehgohead," he mumbled to her through a cold lick full of the dessert, anxious to see just what she was going to order this time.

[wendy]

There was bubble gum and cotton candy and double chocolate chunk but there was no way she could get chocolate anything today. Chocolate was too common. Besides, she’d had to have chocolate last night. You could only have it so often in so many days. Perhaps she would get a scoop of cookie dough and cake batter with kitkit bar pieces. Or maybe banana split and s’mores with sprinkles. Then again, there was cheesecake and cherry Garcia. Why did there have to be so many flavors? It was crazy! It was overwhelming, that’s what it was! How were little kids supposed to choose from so many delicious flavors? Then again, they probably went with the first thing that came to mind… Matthew had probably--

Wait, when had Matthew finished ordering? Shoot! Addison stepped up, glancing to his ice cream. Looked like… cotton candy and something else with… some sort of syrup. She looked back to the guy behind the counter and shot him a nervous smile. She hated being at the front of line when she wasn’t ready. Ice cream flavors were probably the only thing she ever really had trouble deciding on. Especially when there were so many choices! Maybe she would just mix a choice from two different options… “I’ll have cheesecake and and s’mores with chocolate sprinkles.” It probably wasn’t as interesting as whatever Matthew had gotten but she wanted something at least a little normal.

It was too cold inside to eat the ice cream, or so she thought, so without asking, Addison led the way outside once she’d gotten her ice cream. There were a few tables nestled out in front of the store; the umbrellas were opened providing shade. Addison claimed the nearest table, settling into one of the chairs. She stretched her legs out passed the shade, enjoying the warmth of the sun. “Alright…” She started, taking in a deep breath and letting her head tilt back. “I’m not going to lie.” She paused, exhaling. The fresh air was nice. “This was a really good idea.” Addison looked at Matthew, her expression grateful, before she went back to eating her ice cream.

[MATTHEW PETERSON]

She really was taking a lot longer than necessary. Honestly, as important as ice cream was, it wasn't that difficult of a decision to make. After all, all Matt did was say the first flavors that came to mind, no matter what sort of strange look the person behind the counter happened to give him at the request; it was all sweet, so it tasted delicious no matter how you mixed it together.

Matt gave an impatient sigh, tapping his foot on the ground as he took another large lick of his treat, scrunching his face at the subsequent brain freeze. Once he'd shaken the feeling after another sample of the ice cream, Matt was pleased to note Addison had taken the step up to the counter. Finally. What a boring ice cream flavor...Matt shook his head in disappointment, but remained silent, simply because his mouth was too full to open.

He hadn't the time--or thought--to ask what exactly Addison was doing as she turned towards the door. Settling easily into the chair across from Addison, Matt stretched his legs out so they were plopped on the seat of one of the empty chairs nestled near their table. Twirling his cone as he licked off the remaining drops of syrup, Matt turned to Addison as he responded, cheeky grin made all the more chilidish by the fact that he had a rather large glob of ice cream stuck to his nose. "I know. Admit it, Addie. You don't know what you'd do without me and my great ideas."

[wendy]

It was a good day to ditch. The sun was out and the clouds were fluffy and easy to find shapes in. Ice cream had never tasted so good and she hardly cared what was going on in History right now. Not that she wanted to make this a normal thing! Goodness no. She couldn’t bring herself to ditching as often as Matthew did. Addison slid further down into her seat, swaying her feet back and forth. While she wanted to eat the ice cream slowly and enjoy it, it was melting quickly and she didn’t want her hands getting too sticky. Addison laughed and rolled her eyes, smoothing the ice cream out with her tongue as her mother had taught her with swirly cones. “I would too,” she had to defend herself. “I’d be in class instead of at Walt’s Ice Cream Parlor.” That was obvious, though. And boring. But she didn’t want to say that out loud.

Addison looked over at him and laughed. “You’ve got ice cream on your nose.” Still snickering, she checked to make sure her face was clean. Already tired of sitting still, Addison scooted to the edge of her seat and slowly stood. She looked around. “Let’s wander,” she suggested, glancing back to him. However, she imagined it might be annoying to have both hands tied, holding the balloon string and his ice cream. Addison took the balloon from him and shoved her cone into his hand and then proceeded to tie the string around his wrist. “I figured it would be better if you had a free hand, you know?” She said absent-mindedly, taking her ice cream back once she’d finished.

Once that was finished, she began in one direction, trying to come up with more things to do. “You know in movies, when they have those montages of trying on silly outfits? We could do that.” She shrugged and licked her ice cream, trying to keep it from dripping onto her fingers. “Or we could go to Coney Island.” She’d only been there once and a visit was long over-due.

[MATTHEW PETERSON]

He could do this every day, easy. Currently, it was about a weekly thing, ditching, but Matt was almost positive he’d be able to make it work more often than that, especially if Addie came along. It was always more fun to break the rules with a friend. Licking his cone feverishly, Matt hardly bothered to pay attention to the bits dripping through his fingers as he devoured the majority of the cool, sugary treat. He stuck his tongue (stained slightly pinker than usual from the ice cream) out in her direction, shaking his head before responding. “Yeah, and you’d be bored.” She was always bored when he wasn’t around. Most people were.

Scrunching up his nose, Matt wiped the sticky residue away with the back of his hand. For a moment he contemplated licking the rest off, but Addison spoke before his hand got halfway to his mouth. He nodded eagerly at her suggestion, taking another hearty lick of the ice cream before attempting to stand up, only to find Addison in his way. After an unintelligible grumble, Matt sank back down in the chair, hand with the balloon extended for Addison to do with it as she wished, a bit surprised when he found himself holding not one ice cream cone, but two. Even more shocked was he when the cone was removed and the balloon was not thrust back into his hand in exchange; instead, the string was tied securely around his wrist. It was ingenious. He grinned, twisting his hand around in wonder of it all, still smiling as he leapt to his feet. “Gosh, Addie, this is fantastic. I could—I could climb a tree with this thing!” he laughed, as close to a thank-you as he would ever get.

He loped beside her, delighted as only a small child could be in merely an ice cream cone, a balloon, and the laziness of an afternoon. “Nah,” he took another lick of the ice cream. “That’s boring-er than school. I don’t like outfits,” he shook his head, not meaning to insult her ideas so much as simply avoid the idea. At the mention of Coney Island, however, Matt’s face lit up. “Really?” he gasped, “Let’s go! Let’s go let’s go let’s go! C’mon!” he took her free hand in his and began to run, hardly caring that he was headed in the wrong direction or that the ice cream was bobbing precariously close to spilling with every step.

[wendy]

For a moment, Addison wondered what it would be like to ditch every week. It was a very brief thought, and a silly one at that. Still, it sounded quite fun. Not that she’d ever do it. Heavens no. Education was very important to her. She could spare ditching maybe a few times every other month, when class didn’t matter. But every week? No. Absolutely not. No matter how bored she’d be. Addison mimicked him, sticking her tongue out as well. Addison was quite happy, though, to have gotten out of Science for the day. She’d heard a rumor about dissecting frogs. Uck.

Addison grinned, glad to see that he was pleased. “Have you never had a balloon tied around your wrist?” She asked, wondering how strange that must’ve been. Her mother always tied her balloons around her wrist. Sometimes Addison wished they’d just pick her up and float her away for a little away. That was when she was little, though. She knew now that that was entirely impossible. “Why yes. Yes you could.” Addison had never quite thought of that. “In fact, that would be an interesting sight.” To see the balloon bobbing through the branches and leaves, especially since it was such a bright color. The very idea made her smile. Balloons were such wonderful things. “I’m glad you like it.”

Addison rolled her eyes as her first idea was shot down. Coney Island, however, was a go. Completely. In fact, he was dragging her in some direction so quickly, she lost what was left of her ice cream. There was still some in her cone and she was alright with that; the cone was her favorite part anyway. “Matty!” She exclaimed, stumbling after him. “Be careful or you’ll drop your ice cream!” Not to mention, she thought afterwards, glancing around for a street sign, they were probably going in the wrong direction. “Do you even know where you’re going?” She asked, quickly apologizing to a woman she’d just bumped into.

[MATTHEW PETERSON]

Matt lifted his wrist a bit higher, as if examining just how much effort it would take to make him float away. “Well, no, I haven’t…never really thought about it,” he replied absentmindedly, too engrossed with the wonders of having a free hand, an ice cream cone (which was currently dripping down his fingers again) and a balloon to bother defending his experience in the matter.

“It’d be fun, is what it’d be. And then, well, then I could—I could jump right off the top of it and fly away! Like a hot air balloon, but better,” he spoke quickly, as if afraid that the words would mean nothing if they didn’t get out of his mouth the moment they popped into his head. Such was his typical way of things. No doubt Addison was able to translate quite brilliantly by now. “You should get one too!” he added. “Then we could fly together,” now that was a happy thought. He grinned, nodding once, big and important-like.

Before she could answer, however, he was already off and running. Laughing, he called back over his shoulder, “No I wo—oops! There it goes!” the sight of his ice cream flying off the cone was so hilarious that he forgot exactly how to be mad about it. Although, it was a bit upsetting that it’d managed not to hit that grumpy-looking woman square in the face…oh well. Maybe next time. After a few more seconds and another word from Addie, Matt screeched to a stop. There was really no other way to describe it than like a cartoon—it was a wonder he didn’t fall flat on his butt, he halted so quickly. Glancing around wildly, he was laughing between pants, eyes bright and alive as he turned about to address Addison. “ ‘Course I do! I’m going to an adventure! We’re going to an adventure,” he grinned, not particularly caring whether Coney Island ended up being the destination of said adventure or not. “Why, don’cha wanna come?”

[wendy]

Addison grinned, “well, I’m glad to have been the way to introduce you to it.” It was quite like getting a friend into a genre of music or a certain television show. She’d done neither seeing as she was more the type to read and write, but she was sure it was the same concept. Addison looked at her own wrist, wondering why she hadn’t bought a balloon for herself. There had been one that was the most perfect blue she’d ever seen. Addison wondered if it’d still be there if they were to go back to the park; however, she quickly dismissed the idea as a waste of time (and money. she didn’t need the balloon). Addison laughed, thrilled by the idea. “That would be brilliant!” Now she quite wanted to go back for a balloon, if only so she could also imagine it lifting her up into the air. “Maybe we can later,” she said, “how does that sound?” Addison didn’t want to go right back to the park, especially after having just left it.

For a second, Addison was worried he’d be upset over losing his ice cream. He seemed alright, though, after a moment and she breathed a sigh of relief. She’d been planning to be extra careful with her ice cream but that didn’t work out too well. Matt stopped so suddenly that she ran into him and the impact sent her ice cream tumbling off of the cone. She scowled a little but dismissed it; at least she still had what was left in the cone. At his question, Addison gave him a bewildered look, surprised that he’d ask such a thing. “Of course!” She exclaimed, laughing. “When would I ever pass up going on an adventure with you?” Never mind that she’d done so plenty of times when she deemed school more important. Today was starting to change things, though. It was a stepping stone in the ditch-school-and-spend-time-with-Matthew direction; just one step further away from education and college and getting a job and other grown-up stuff that she sometimes hated and sometimes didn’t mind.

[MATTHEW PETERSON]

“Me too!” Matt beamed, practically bouncing up and down. “You’re a great introducter-er!”

He turned his wrist over again, still beyond amazed by the fact that the balloon was staying right there on his hands without him holding it. Sort of like a bracelet, but better. Not every bracelet flew. “Hey, Addie…” he pondered aloud, still too engrossed in the wonders of the shiny red ribbon to bother looking up at her. “How come it doesn’t just pick up and fly away on its own? Doesn’t it wanna be free?”

His musings ceased abruptly, however, when Addison responded to his earlier, apparently pressing question. Nodding quickly, Matt let his balloon-free hand salute her with a look that had “Pinky swear?” written all over it. She needn’t go through with the motion, of course. He knew she’d keep her promise. “Maybe” or not, Matt would make her somehow. Flying with balloons sounded much too brilliant a scheme to let slip by; and besides, he never forgot.

Without sending more than a half glance at Addison’s toppled ice cream, Matt looked back up at his best friend, still beaming. He shrugged. “I donno. When you’re feelin’ stupid, probably,” there was a face made—something resembling what Matt imagined a grumpy wildebeest to look like—and then he was off once more, but not before snatching Addison’s wrist up in his hand.

“C’mon!” he called back loudly, despite the fact that she was less than two feet behind him. Screaming made everything more fun, though. Especially when it made all the moms they ran by look really really really mad. “Adventure’s this way! We’re gonna go treasure hunting! Once we find a map…” he added almost absentmindedly, although the thought did nothing to slow him down. If anything, it was even more exciting, having to search for the map for the treasure.

[wendy]

Addison laughed, already wondering if there were any things she could bring into Matthew’s life. If he’d never had a balloon tied around his wrist, what other wonderful things could he be missing out on? Then again, he seemed to have the whole childhood thing down. Even for being a teenager. “That I am!” She would have bowed then, as if she were on stage, but now wasn’t the best time. Everything seemed to be moving very quickly. It was probably because they were going on an adventure soon. Time wanted them to get going.

However, Matthew seemed distracted for a moment and things slowed down. She watched as he admired the balloon string. He… he seemed really happy about it. She couldn’t help it; Addison threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. She pulled away after a moment, feeling a bit silly; “if it flew away now, it wouldn’t get the chance to help you fly.” Addison cleared her throat and linked pinkies with him, hardly remembering what she’d said and thus not knowing what she was promising.

Addison rolled her eyes, smirking. “I’m never st—” She couldn’t finish though because they were off. Keeping hold of her ice cream was too much work and so she let it slip from her hold, only upset for a millisecond. “Treasure hunting?!” Addison repeated, excited. “That sounds great!” At the mention of a map, Addison immediately began to pay attention to her surroundings. This was New York, after all. There had to have been tourist maps around here somewhere. A map was a map.

[MATTHEW PETERSON]

“Yeah. I guess not…” Matt replied, voice pensive and eyes still locked hard on Mr. Sasparilla. “But still…maybe I don’t need help. Maybe I should just let him go,” and with all the indecisiveness and innocence of a child looking for answers from his mother, Matt looked up at Addie, brown eyes wide and wondering. Surely she’d know the answer. Addie knew lots of things, even if he didn’t like to admit it half the time.

His mood, as usual, changed on a dime when she linked pinkies with his. Instantly, the troubles of the balloon were forgotten, lost up in the sky where Rufus Xavier too would have been, if only Matt had actually loosened the string. A good thing he hadn’t, though; no doubt that would have caused a fit.

Flashing her a look that clearly illustrated his belief that she was indeed stupid—at least, more often than she thought she was—Matt tore off. “Yeah, treasure hunting! The best kind of hunting!” he called back to her, face full of boyish mirth as they darted down the path and across the street without a single glance either way (at least on Matt’s part), incredibly lucky they’d crossed when the arrow had allowed it. “Now keep your eyes peeled, oka—wait.”

Matt halted abruptly among the crowd of adults, hand stuck far out to his side to keep Addison from charging ahead. Silent, he nodded towards a man with glasses, dressed in a trench coat—not sinister by any means, but the epitome of adulthood, to say the least. Sticking out from the pocket of said coat was indeed a map, and if one looked hard enough, they could see scribbles drawn on it. At least, Matt imagined he could. Turning to Addie with a wicked grin, he spoke softly, creeping slowly towards the man as he did so by weaving expertly through the crowd. “Look, he’s got our map. Probably trying to steal our treasure…C’mon, I can get it from him.”One would have thought him a natural pickpocket. In a manner of speaking, he supposed he was.

[wendy]

Addison would’ve been lost for words for a moment and then she would’ve done her best to answer had she had a chance. She was quite sure Matthew could fly on his own if he wanted to (not that she would ever encourage this just in case he couldn’t). He was so much like the main character of her favorite novel that she wouldn’t be surprised if he could just take off and go to Neverland whenever he well pleased. (She’d probably never see him again and this thought made her incredibly sad for a second). However, she was determined to make sure he didn’t let the balloon go. That would not end well. Still, before she could say anything, they were off again.

He was almost too fast sometimes. “Right,” she managed, “of course!” Treasure hunting, the best kind of hunting, of course. How could she have even questioned it? Addison almost died of worry right then and there when he bolted across the street without so much as a glance to the left or right. She did look however, only slowing a bit. When she realized the arrow was lit and it was actually quite safe to cross, Addison hurried to catch up with him. She had half a mind to stop him and teach him a lesson about looking both ways before crossing the street. However, that wouldn’t go over well so she kept her mouth shut. For now. She’d be sure to bring it up later.

He stopped so suddenly that she ran right into his arm and then stumbled back. She made a noise that sounded a bit like a groan and an oww. Addison held an arm against her abdomen, willing the minimal pain away. She had to focus if she were to one) keep up with Matthew and two) be any help at all with this treasure hunt. After a bit of looking, Addison caught sight of the adult Matthew had spotted. He seemed rather shady (evidently, she had a problem with trench coats) but there was a map sticking out from a pocket in the coat. While Matthew seemed to be imagining the scribbles, Addison could definitely see that it was written on.

Addison glanced to her best friend and almost found his grin a bit unnerving. The last thing she wanted was for him to get caught. She certainly wasn’t sneaky as he was and her maneuvering skills weren’t exactly up to par. If she stuck too close to him, she’d probably give him away, so she kept back a bit, letting him do what he was best at. (Well, she wasn’t sure if this was what he was best at. But he seemed to be doing quite a good job right now). Besides, Matthew had said he could get it from the shady-looking adult, so Addison was happy to let him do so. “Just…” she started quietly, almost sure he wouldn’t hear her anyway, “be careful.”

Stealing, she thought, was never good and certainly not in New York. Even if it was over something as simple as a map.